Amazon India matches Flipkart sale prices for smartphones, TVs

The development does not seem to have pleased Flipkart although a company spokesperson said the ongoing sale is a success with sellers running out of stock on top productsWritankar Mukherjee | ET Bureau | May 17, 2017, 09:11 IST

The country’s two largest ecommerce marketplaces are engaged in a fierce price war yet again, this time on smartphones and televisions, with Amazon matching the offers in Flipkart’s ongoing sale.

The US-based etailer continues to offer aggressive discounts on popular models including Apple iPhones and Samsung smartphones even after its sale got over in the weekend as it clearly does not want to cede ground to the Indian market leader, three industry executives told ET.

“Amazon will continue such aggressive pricing till May 18 (when Flipkart’s ‘Big 10’ sale ends) on most of the popular smartphone and television brands,” one of the executives said. “It is offering such price even for models which are currently sold out, like some of the online exclusives of Samsung,” the person said.

In fact, Amazon is now selling some iPhone models at less than the prices offered during its ‘Great Indian Sale’ from May 11-14. It was, for example, selling iPhone 5S (16GB) at Rs 15,999 during its sale, but has dropped it to Rs 15,499 after Flipkart offered it at that price in its sale that started on Sunday.

Amazon also dropped the price of iPhone 7 (32GB) to Rs 39,499 on Monday for its Prime customers, Rs 500 less than Flipkart’s sale price.

The development does not seem to have pleased Flipkart although a company spokesperson said the ongoing sale is a success with sellers running out of stock on top products.

“If the competition continues with its discounted pricing even after its sale, it reflects they were not prepared for a sale of this scale from us and also to liquidate stock,” the Flipkart spokesperson said. Flipkart always reverts to the old selling price once the curtains are down on a sale, the person said.

Arun Srinivasan, director, category management, at Amazon India, however, categorically denied that the marketplace has extended its sale and said there was no specific sale-related message on the platform at present.

He said prices are now completely controlled by sellers. “Since multiple sellers are offering products, price change would happen and we just limit ourselves to offer value to them, marketing and logistic support. The sellers compete amongst themselves to decide the price,” said Srinivasan.

“However, there would be special sale for (Amazon) Prime customers and we just did one for iPhone 7 and will continue to do more since that’s a focus area for us,” he said.

Industry executives said Amazon is continuing discounted prices for Samsung and Motorola exclusive smartphones. “For exclusive models, Amazon is trying to ensure pricing parity with a similar specification model as that on offer on Flipkart,” said the chief of an online electronics brand.

The two rivals are quoting similar prices for most iPhone models as well as other popular models such as Oppo F3 Gold. Oppo F1s (64GB) is selling at around `800 less on Amazon. Even for TV sets, both are competing on prices for similar screen size and features. NARROWING GAP

Amazon is trying hard to pip Flipkart as the largest ecommerce marketplace in the country, having reduced the gap considerably in recent years.

Tarun Pathak, associate director at Hong Kong-based market tracker Counterpoint Research, said the two have been very aggressive in the past couple of quarters to grab market share.

“Brands have multi-channel strategy which leaves both these players to compete by attracting flagships on their platforms,” he said. “Snapdeal’s decline also led them to lure new users through discounts and flash sales.”

As per Counterpoint data, Flipkart’s share in online smartphone sales shot up to 59% during January-March, rising from 42% a year earlier. Amazon’s share rose at a slower pace to 29% from 27% in the same period.

Amazon, however, contested the data. Both marketplaces have claimed big consumer response to their latest sales. Amazon said it had recorded up to seven times more sales for smartphones across brands on the first day of the sale with top brands like Samsung growing 16 times and Apple 40 times.

For televisions, there was a 24-fold jump in sales on the first day, it said. Flipkart said it sold 1.5 times the number of TV sets sold in the country in a day on the first day of its sale.